Join us for a LIVE webinar Thursday, June 11 at 7pm ET to hear from students on how COVID-19 impacted their college plans and current on-campus experiences. Zai, Ethan, and Rohan will share information about their college and application experiences. REGISTER NOW!

College Confidential stands united with African American students and their families against racial injustice and in pursuit of higher education and equality in America.

GUEST STUDENT OF THE WEEK: Zai Dawodu overcame a low GPA to get into top schools like Northwestern or NYU. She'll be attending Northwestern to study Computer Science. ASK HER ANYTHING!

Make sure to check out our June Checklists for HS Juniors and HS Seniors. Consult these quick resources to get you started on the process this month.

Buyer's Remorse/ Extreme Panic

Hi everyone,
This fall I will depart for a certain top 15 university on the East Coast. I knew before I even attended the admitted students weekend that the school has a reputation for churning out unhappy students. I've read post after post after post on various internet forums about the "cut-throat environment," poor social life, etc, and had no intention of attending the school.
When I visited, however, I had the best time of my entire life. What I had read online was inconsistent with the charismatic, fun students before my eyes, students who appeared to LOVE their school. I ecstatically and impetuously submitted my deposit the day I returned. Now I'm really regretting it. I can't even search my school on a student-review type sight without seeing an amassment of complaints from unhappy students! I am extremely grateful that I was accepted to the institution and that my family has the means to send me, but was it wrong of me to discount the TONS of negative reviews about the school merely because I happened to have a "fun" weekend?
Was I really stupid to choose a school that is KNOWN for not being fun, or was I right to rely on observations rather than anonymous slander? I feel bad that my family is paying such a huge fee to send me to a school about which I am so ambivalent. Please weigh in because I am really panicking.

Replies to: Buyer's Remorse/ Extreme Panic

I would take at least most of the negative reviews with a grain of salt. And stop reading them. It could be one nutcase on a vendetta or someone who actually goes to a rival school or any number of things.

To be honest, every single school has tons of bad stuff in the reviews. You cannot find a school without a bunch of bad stuff. If there are specifics that bother you, like the dorms are really run down, and that is repeated by most people, then, yeah, I would consider that. But just plain opinion complaints, I would not worry about. I do not think there is anything in the top 15 that does not have a portion of bad reviews. You will likely be fine!

Just something to think about....generally, only unhappy students post on those sites. All of the other students are too busy/happy to give a second thought to visiting those sites, much less posting on them. So consider the source of the gripes.

I'd say keep your mind open until proven otherwise. You may get there and say--"oh, so this is what all those reviews were about"--or you may find that your experience is vastly different. Just give it a little time and throw yourself into your schoolwork and activities and see how it goes.

I've read reviews about my college that line up 100% with my experiences. Then I've read other things that made me wonder if we went to the same school. As others have said, the people who write reviews are usually not typical college students. Even if they are, at a big school, there are a ton of different communities so one person's experience may not necessarily translate to another person's.

According to the reviews, my new school is supposed to be incredibly Greek dominated, and you can't have fun without joining a fraternity or sorority. Yet most undergrads in my department would be surprised to find this out, as would the roughly 75% of students who don't don greek letters.

Hopkins has been typecast for years as a school for "cut-throat" pre-meds, just as Chicago has been typecast as the place "where fun goes to die". In fact, both schools have very high freshmen retention and 4-year graduation rates. If students really are so unhappy, why don't they leave?

Hopkins has many strong humanities and social science departments. If there is any element of truth to its pre-med and STEM reputation, I doubt the music, art history, and English departments all have the same vibe, year after year.

"When I visited, however, I had the best time of my entire life. What I had read online was inconsistent with the charismatic, fun students before my eyes, students who appeared to LOVE their school."

Are you going to trust what you read online over what you have seen with your own eyes? Regardless of which school you are referring to, you are certain to find your niche and thrive. Give the school a fair chance and approach college with the right spirit. Forget the negativity.

People tend to find what they are looking for, which generally is a projection of what they carry inside themselves. You saw fun, happy students who love the school. Those are the type of students you will see when you attend, and those students will be your friends and you will love the school also.

If you were determined to hate the school, you would have ignored the happy students and seen the sullen ones sulking in the corners. And your preconceptions would have been "proven".

Bottom line: trust your experience, not anonymous haters on a website. And have a very fun year!